13 Killed in Helicopter Crash After Earthquake—All on Ground

Patients rest in their hospital beds parked outside the General Hospital after they were evacuated, in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

(Newser)
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A military helicopter carrying officials assessing damage from a powerful earthquake crashed Friday in Mexico, killing 13 people and injuring 15, all of them on the ground, the AP reports. The Oaxaca state prosecutor's office said five women, four men, and three children were killed at the crash site and another person died at the hospital. A state official said the chopper crashed into a group of people who had been spending the night in an open field after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the area. Aftershocks had caused people to flee their homes for fear they would collapse. The Defense Department said the Blackhawk helicopter suffered the mishap when it was preparing to land on a vacant lot in the city of Jamiltepec. The craft was carrying Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat, neither of whom had serious injuries.

Jorge Morales, a local reporter who was aboard the helicopter when it crashed, described harrowing moments as the pilot lost control and the helicopter attempted to land in a swirl of dust. "The moment the helicopter touched down it lost control, it slid—like it skidded—and it hit some vehicles that were stationed in the area," he told a Mexican TV news program. "In that moment, you couldn't see anything, nothing else was heard beside the sound that iron makes when it scrapes the earth." Navarrete and Murat were evaluating reports of damage from the earthquake before their helicopter crashed. Both Navarrete and the defense department said they regretted the loss of life in Friday's accident. The US Geological Survey originally put the magnitude of Friday's quake at 7.5 but later lowered it to 7.2.